Pipe aligning tool



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 P. B. MITCHELL PIPE ALIGNING TOOL Sept. 12, 1950 Filed Oct. 1 6, 1944 Zinoentor Prc:.r .5. Mi/Cbd/ attorney QP 1950 P. B. MITCHELL 2,522,459

" PIPE 'ALIGNING TOOL Filed Oct. 16, 1944 2 SheetsSheei. 2

3nventor Press 5; M'Yche B (worms Patented Sept. 12, ,1950

UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE f I 2,522,459 I PIPE ALIGNING TOOL Pressc B. Mitchell, Longview, Tex. Application October 16, 1944, Serial No. 558,884

8 Claims. (Cl. 113-103 My invention relates to pipe aligning tools. An object of my invention is to provide a pipe aligning tool with a collapsible head that may be inserted through the exposed end of a section of pipe in a collapsed form by means of a handle extending from it and pushed through the other end of' the section into an adjacent section of pipe to which the first mentioned section is to be joined and then be expanded to align the adjacent ends of the joining sections of pipe into exact alignment with each other and adapted also to be collapsed and withdrawn by its handle after the sections of pipe have been joined by a weld or other means.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pipe aligning tool with shoe members that are curved to fit the inside of sections of pipe that are aligned by it and which shoe members :are adapted to serve as backing members during the joining of the aligned pipe sections by a welding operation to insure \a smooth internal surface at the joining line of the pipe sections.

Another object of my invention is to provide av pipe aligning tool that is also adapted for use in straightening pipe, especially in straightening out dents in pipe. I

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear in the course of my detailed description'to follow further on in this specification in connection with my accompanying drawings which illustrate a form Of aligning tool that embodies my invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is aside elevation view of a pipe aligning tool in an operating position that embodies my invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation View of a portionof the structure illustrated in Figure 1 that illustrates a welding operation.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross section view taken on line l--I of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a side elevation view of mypipe,

tion of the head portion of my pipe aligning too 1,

'and'..

Figure 10 is an'elevation view of a portion of my pipe aligning tool.

Referring to Figure 1, two sections of pipe, P and P, that have been aligned with my pipe aligning tool will be seen; and it will be under stood that the portion designated by P might be the exposed end of a string of pipe a mile long buried or partially buried in the earth E. Theportion of the pipe designated by P is a singlelength of pipe, the weight of which is supported by the lifting boom B. Other means may be used to support the length of pipe P if desired." In the laying of large size interstate gas and oil lines, wherein my invention is very useful, special pipe lifting power driven devices are often employed. However, since such devices form no actual partof my invention, none are shown in my drawings. 7 e, Briefly stated, my pipe aligning tool consists in. an expansible head H and a centering guide .G through which a tubular support or hollow-.- handle I! and an expanding rod MI-inside of the hollow handle. [1 extending from the expansible. head H are slidably mounted.

Before going into the detailed descriptionof the expansible head H itself, I will describe the; centering guide G and explain its uses. The com tering guideG has a centrally positioned hub, I from which three equally spaced arms radiate. The bottom arm 2 terminates in a short leg po rtion 3 while the upper pair of arms 4 terminate in handles 5. The bottom arm 2 and also the upper pair of arms 4 are provided with pairsof lug-s, inner lugs B and outer lugs 1, which are adapted to fit on the inside and the outside of. the end of pipe length P. Set screws *8 thread edly engaged with the outer lugs I are used to clamp the centering guide G to the end of the pipe P. A set screw 9 is also threadedly engaged with and extended through a wall portion of the hub l for use in clamping the hollow handle llv of the aligning tool in adjusted positions through the hub l. A clearer understanding of the part that-the centering guide G plays may be obtained by, visualizing the length of pipe P, in its initial position shown in the dotted lines, on the earth E. The pipe aligning tool may be brought toward the pipe P by two men by means of the centeringl: guide G into which the handle I1 is clamped at; a position near the expansible head H of the pipe. aligning tool. This is done after the boom chain Be has been looped around the pipe length P.

The upper arms 4 of the centering guide G are so positioned that the handles may be held by men at waist height to bring the expansible head H of my pipe aligning tool into position for inserting it into the end of a length of pipe P when it is lying on the earth E in the dotted line position shown in Figure 1. While not absolutely necessary, it is convenient in carrying my pipe aligning tool to the pipe P to have a third workman assist by holding up the extended end of the hollow handle ll. When the expansible head H is inserted into the end of pipe length P, the centering guide G is fitted onto the endof the pipe length P and clamped to it with the set screws 8. Now with the set screws in the hub I backed out from clamping position, the expansible head H is pushed through the pipe P in its collapsed position by means of the handle I! until its tapered centering nose 23 is sticking out. After the pipe P has been raised by the e lifting boom B, it may be steered into aligning position with the string of pipe P by means of the pipe aligning tool handle H which is again clamped to the centering guide G.

The boom chain Be is placed around the pipe length P carrying the pipe cleaning tool near the center position of the pipe length P to substantially balance it when lifted by the boom B.

When the hollow handle I! is clamped to the centering guide G with the set screw 9, the hollow handle ll can be used as a handle for the pipe length P for either tilting the joining end of the length of pipe P up and down or for pushing it to and from the end of the string of pipe P to which it is to be joined.

As soon as the centering nose 23 of the expansible head H is positioned in a string of pipe P,. the set screw 9 in the hub l is loosened and the expansible head H is shoved farther into the string of pipe P by means of the handle l! to. a. position where about half of it is in the string of pipe P and its other. half in the length of pipe P. In this position it is expanded as explained hereafter in connection with my detailed description of the expansible head l-I itself.

body portion or support member ill from which three equally spaced triplicate vane guides II extend in radial directions. Each ofthe vane guides ll comprises a pair of spaced, parallel members and carries between said members a movable vane I2 that is slidably mounted in the vane guide l l and connected therewith by means of a pair of duplicate rearwardly slanting cam slots l3 and a pair of guide pins i l extended through the slanting cam slots [3 and secured in the vane guide ll. of equal length and are spaced at equal radiuses from the center line of the main body portion I0.

While not absolutely necessary, preferably rollers 15 are mounted in the guide pins [4 to 7 cut down friction and prevent excessive wear in H'Will work with two vanes 42 or more than'threevanes I2, if desired.

Flexible straps [6 are welded to the inner ends of. the vanes :12 and bolted to the handle hub l8 by means of bolts [9. The hollow handle H The expansible head H is made up with'a main All of the slots l3 are The hollow handle hub 8 is internally threaded. An expanding rod 29 is rotatably mounted in the main body portion ill of the expansible head H but held against longitudinal movement relative thereto. The rod 28 is provided with an enlarged threaded portion 2i threadedly engaged with the handle hub it through which it extends. When the hollow handle Il is held stationary and the expanding rod is turned clockwise,.th e main body portion or supporting member iii of the expansible head H including the vane guides ii is moved to the left (as seen in Figure 5) longitudinally with respect to the straps It. Thus it will be seen that when the main body portion it is moved with respect to the vanes in a leftward direction as seen in Figured, the relative movement of the guide pins ismade' long enough to extend out of theend of: a. standard length Figural.

i l and cam surfaces of the slanting slots I3 pushes the vanes l2 outwardly toward the expanded position as seen in Figure 5 or" the drawings. ,A relative movement of the main body portion It to the right causes the vanes l2 to move in toward the collapsed position of the expansible head Iii.

The description thus far related describes a. practical expansible head H. I prefer, however, to form slanting edges 22 on the forward ends of the vane guides l! to form the centering nose 23 referred to earlier in this specification. I prefer also to provide removable curved memberson the outer edges of the vanes l2 for contacting the inner surfaces of pipes.

Each of the curvedmembers 24% is provided with facing layer of copper 25 to enable it to serve as a backing surface during the operation of welding the aligned, ends of the pipe line P and the pipe length P togetheras best seen in Figure 2 and Figure 3. The copper layer 25 may be. secured in place by copper rivets 2S and by crimping its edges. Copper makes an excellent backing metal for the reason that it will. not fuse with either the metal of the pipe P and the pipe length. vP nor with the welding metal.

- conducted away into its areas adjacent to the welding spot. While other surfacing materials might be substituted for copper such as ceramic materials and some other metals, the copper coating serves the purpose excellently.

As a matter of convenience, I shall hereinafter refer to the vane l2, either with or without mem.- ber- 2s. and facing 25 attached, as a shoe. It

will be noted that each of these shoes, when pro- I vided with the curved member 24,- extends circumferentially through a considerable arc, and also extends a substantial distance longitudinally, the length of such shoes being illustrated in the drawings as greater than the diameter of the pipe. This relatively great length serves to effectively line up the adjacent-pipe sections for welding, as show in Figs. 1 and 2.

During the welding operation, after the first rotated a part of a turn to movethe shoes 2-4 A tounew weld backing positions. The complete encircling welding operation canbe. accomplished: with only twov orthreewpositionings of the. shoes.

I make the members 24 detachablefron'l. the vanes. i 2 so. that by a mere change in the. sizev and 511'- shape ofhthese members the basic; organism. of my pipe aligning tool may be used with several diiferent sizes of. pipe. I also wish to point out. that a change in the positions. of, theguide. pins l4; only will bring about a change inthe ultimate extended position of the shoes. For example, ii. theipins M are spaced agreaterradial distance than shown in: Figure 5, the shoes will move out a greater distance than is possible with the posi-. tion of the pins M in Figure '5.

When my pipe aligning tool is used to straighten out kinks in pipes, it is pushed into a pipe, such as thepipe lengthPf' in, iure ,4,-with the expansible head H in collapsed positionflfldthen rotated in the pipe length P until one of the shoes is brought-under the dent in the pipe P". Then the expansible head His expanded by turningthe expanding rod 20 untilthe shoes'under the dent pushes the dent out of thepipe P. .In practice the dented portion is heated by means ofa .blow torch sufficiently to soften it.

The. modified expansible head vI-I' shown in Figure 9 is in fact merely the expanslble head-H illustrated-in Figure with the shoes removed. This modified form of expansible head H is well adapted for straightening out dents i pipes such as the pipe length P" in Figure 4. If desired, a special form of shoe could'be clamped on one of the varies for use in pushing dents out of pipes.

-Various changes in the size and arrangement of parts of the above described aligning tool may be resorted to within the scope of my-invention No need is seen to go into the details of construction and materials relative to the making of my pipe aligning tool since this is within the expected knowledge of general machine shop practice.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A pipe aligning tool comprising a expansible head including an elongated main body portion provided with vane guides extending in radial directions with respect to the center line of said elongated main body portion, each of said vane guides carrying a vane adapted to move in said guide in radial directions, each of said vanes being provided with a slot through which a guide pin fastened to said vane guide is extended, each of said vanes being connected by means of a flexible strap to an internally threaded boss and a means for moving said vanes including an externally threaded expanding rod secured to and extending from said main body portion in threaded engagement with said internally threaded boss, whereby a rotary movement of said expanding rod with respect to said boss produces a longitudinal movement of said main body portion with respect-to said vanes resulting in radial movements of said vanes with respect to said main body portion.

2. A pipe aligning tool comprising an elongated expansible head, said expansible head comprising a main body portion including a plurality of fixed vane guides arranged in lengthwise and radial directions with respect to the longitudinal center line of said main body portion, each of said vane guides carrying a movable vane adapted to move in radial directions with respect to said center line of said main body portion, a means for moving said vanes in radial directions in said vane guides including expanding means interposed between said vanes and guides, a hollow handle and a rod extending therethrough for operating said expanding means, said rod being rotatably mounted in but longitudinally fixed with respect to said main body portion, flexible means connecting the hollow handle with the movable vanes, a centering-guide adapted to centersaid hollow .handle in a pipe, and means for clamping said centering, guide to the end of the pipe and tosaid hollow handle- I carrying .a .vane adaptedto move in radial directions in said vane guide, each of said vanes being providedwith a plurality of parallel slanting slotsthrough which guide pins fastened to said. guides are extended, each :of said vanes being connectedby means of a flexible strap to an internally threaded tubular handle extending centrally from ends-of said vanes, a means for moving said vanes including an externally threaded expanding rod secured to and extending from an end'of. said main body portion, said expandingrod being extended through said tubular handle in threaded engagement with the same, whereby aaro'tarymovement of said expanding rod with respectto said tubular handle produces .a longitudinalv movement of said main body portion with respect to. saidvanes resulting in radial movements of said vanes with respect to said main body portion and. a centering guide adapted to center said tubular handle and said expanding rod within said tubular handle in a central position ina pipe;

said centeringrguide being provided with clamping means for clamping the same on the end of a pipe, said centering guide including also a clamping means for clamping said tubular handle in longitudinally adjusted positions through said centering guide, whereby said tubular handle is adapted for use as a handle member for moving a pipe in which said pipe aligning tool is positioned.

4. The device as claimed in claim 3 wherein a curved member is provided on each of said vanes in position to contact the inner surfaces of opposed ends of pipes aligned by said pipe aligning tool.

5. The device as claimed in claim 3 wherein an arcuate curved member is provided on each of said vanes in position to contact inner surfaces of opposed ends of pipes aligned by said pipe aligning tool and wherein the outer surface of one or more of said members consists in a layer of copper adapted to serve as a backing member in a welding operation.

6. A pipe aligning tool comprising an expansible head including an elongated main body portion provided with vane guides extending in radial directions with respect to the center line of said elongated main body portion, each of said vane guides carrying a vane adapted to move in said guide in radial directions, each of said vanes being provided with a slot through which a guide pin fastened to said vane guide extends, means for connecting each of said vanes to an internally threaded boss in such manner as to permit radial movement of said vanes relative thereto, and a means for moving said vanes including an externally threaded expanding rod rotatably secured to and extending from said main body portion in threaded engagement with said internally threaded boss, whereby a rotary movement of said expanding rod with respect to said boss produces a longitudinal movement of said main body portion with respect to said vanes, resulting in radial movements of said vanes with respect to said main body portion.

7. A pipe aligning tool adapted to be inserted a aeaew into. oneend of a section. of pipe and. to. extend beyond the. other end thereof, said tool comprising a central supporting member, a plurality of radially disposed elongated shoes mounted on said member for longitudinal sliding. movement with respect. thereto,. a hollow handle element, having. an. operating rod element housed concentrically therein and co.-extensive therewith, one of said.-

elements being connected with said central supporting member and. flexible means connecting the. other with said shoes, and said handle and. rod elements; being of such length. as to project from the. end of the pipe section into which the. toolis. inserted when. said shoes are disposed adjacent the. other end thereof, means actuated by the. relative movement of said handle and rod elements for causing relative. sliding movement of saidsupporting member and shoes and means whereby such sliding. movement serves to shift said shoes radially.

81.. A pipe. aligning too-l adapted to. be inserted into: the bore. of a pipe. and having an elongated.

expansible head, said head comprising av body portion. provided with. a plurality of rigid vane guides: extendinglongitudinally and radially with respect. to. the axis. of said body portion, a vane disposed parallel with and adjacenteach vane guide, means connecting each vanev with its associated. guide comprising a transverse pin carriedby one member and, an inclined slotformed in the other member, through which. slot said pin. freely 8 passes; whereby relative longitudinal movement of said vane and guide imparts a radial movement. toasaid vane, and mechanical operating means, in addition to said pin. and slot connection, interposed between said vane guides and. vanes for causing relative longitudinal movement thereof, said operating means including flexible, radially yieldable. elements connected with said vanes.

PRESSEi B. MITCHELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 81,420. Shur 1 Aug. 25, 1868 410,630: Ashforth Sept. 10,. 1889 1,392,798 Rice -1 Oct. 4, 1921 1,654,737 Kistner Jan. 3, 1928 1,879,122 Da-Vis' Sept. 27, 1932 1,962,351. Kane June 12, 1934 1,964,928 Moss July 3, 1934 2,161,896 Graham et a1 Aug. 1, 1939 2,323,039 June 29, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Nmnber Country Date 15,011v I Australia Aug. 15,v 1903 

